Why a net-zero vision should drive India’s climate strategy

Globally, efforts are underway to prepare country-level climate strategies in the run-up to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP26) at Glasgow in November this year. But, like several developing countries, India seems to be taking a wait-and-watch approach to submit its long-term strategies (LTS) under the Paris Agreement. The Agreement urges all Parties to ‘formulate and communicate their long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies’. Forty-five of the 190 countries — Parties to the Paris Agreement — have submitted net-zero commitments as part of their LTS or updated their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Experts, however, agree that these are inadequate to meet the 2030 goal of a 45 per cent reduction in global carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (over the 2010 level), to limit warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels by turn of the century.